At three o'clock in the morning, Zhao Rong set out and rushed to the inn he rented near the south gate of Luojing. He changed his clothes, took some dry food, and arrived at the Chongxu Temple on Mount Taibai before the quarter before three o'clock in the morning. Then he spent the whole day copying scriptures in the Lingguan Temple. When the sun set, he waited for the Taoists to finish their evening classes, then handed in the scriptures and returned home tired from a day of work.

When he returned home at night, he ate the osmanthus cake that Su Xiaoxiao made for him, while writing down on a piece of white paper the details he remembered that day and the loopholes he thought could be exploited, and thinking them over carefully.

In the past few days, Zhao Rong has been following this schedule. Although it is boring and unbearable, he has no choice but to do so. He heard Lin Wenruo say that Qingjingzi has reached the level of a golden elixir. If he also has a golden elixir, he can just rob it.

But I don't have such strong strength at present, so I can only use my wits to plan step by step carefully under the existing conditions.

Through the observation of copying scriptures in secret for the past few days, I have roughly figured out the working and rest time of the Taoist priests in Lingguan Temple.

At 1:15 pm, the bell in the Taoist temple rings to signal the end of meditation. The Taoists get up, eat vegetarian food, and rush to the main hall before 3:15 pm.

From 4:15 pm to 4:15 pm, a period of one hour, morning prayers are held in the Lingguan Hall, with scriptures recited with eyes closed.

After the morning service, all the Taoists dispersed, leaving only three core Taoists in blue, four ordinary Taoists in black, and four little Taoist children in the Lingguan Temple. These eleven people stayed in the temple almost the entire day, either meditating and practicing, or receiving pilgrims.

At noon, they went to the dining hall to eat, which took about two quarters of an hour, but the Taoists in the hall did not go together. Instead, three Taoists in blue stayed behind, and the rest of the Taoists brought food back from the dining hall and let them eat by the back door of the hall.

From 4:04 pm to 4:00 pm, the Taoist priests who had performed morning lessons returned to the Lingguan Temple to perform evening lessons.

At four quarters after the You hour, the outer door closed and Zhao Rong had to stop copying the scriptures and leave the temple with everyone else.

However, Zhao Rong's guess was correct. There was indeed a Taoist priest in blue staying in the Lingguan Hall at night. One day, he deliberately delayed for a while, and before he was urged to leave the hall, he caught a glimpse of the Taoist priest in blue who came to replace him.

However, it is worth noting that although the blue-robed Taoist priests on night watch are changing shifts at 1:15 am in the morning, the Taoist priests on night watch in many halls including the Lingguan Hall will leave the hall early at 4:15 am, which is when the Taoist priests who stayed behind during the day rush to the hall to start morning lessons. Only one blue-robed Taoist priest is left in the hall to lead the morning lessons, while the others go to the observatory in the southeast corner of the exterior to wait for breakfast brought by the Taoist boy at the foot of the mountain.

This is what I saw on the first day.

Zhao Rong thought carefully, dipped the brush in his hand into ink, and continued writing from time to time.

From 4:04 pm to 1:01 pm at Mao time, looking at the defense of the palace throughout the day, this is a period of time when the guards are the weakest.

Although there were many Taoists in the Lingguan Temple at this time, there were very few who posed a threat to him.

The only old Taoist in blue clothes left in the hall was taking the lead in chanting scriptures with his eyes closed, and the Taoist priest who was performing morning prayers behind him did the same. Apart from the pilgrims coming and going and the kind people who were copying scriptures with their heads down, the only ones who really posed a threat to him in the Lingguan Hall were the four little Taoist children on the left and right sides of the hall and the white-haired old Taoist priest who was receiving the pilgrims.

Oh, yes, there are also cleaning chores.

I didn’t see these servants because I came late on the first day. But when I went to the temple early to copy scriptures in the following days, I found that during the morning service every day, there was a servant who took advantage of the small number of pilgrims in the morning to clean the temple…

Zhao Rong, who was sitting at the desk, suddenly stopped writing.

Wait, I seem to have seen a servant touching the Thundering Purple Gold Furnace when he was wiping the table with offerings and ritual vessels in front of the statue.

Zhao Rong put down his pen, walked slowly to the window, frowned slightly, and cast an unfocused gaze towards the cliff carving hidden in the darkness on the horizon.

The general idea before was to blend in with the pilgrims during the day, take advantage of their loopholes, and cleverly take away the Thundering Purple Gold Furnace. However, doing so would put him in danger of being discovered by many pilgrims. He was not a member of the Taoist temple, but if he tried to move the tribute and ritual vessels on the table, it would indeed attract attention, not to mention the difficulty of taking it out of the hall.

This method is indeed too dangerous...but what if I use this servant?

Zhao Rong's brows relaxed, and he thought about something in his mind. He turned back to the table, packed up his things, and went out directly. It was not yet three o'clock in the morning, and he had been tired all day without rest, but he already had a feasible plan in his mind, and he was quite excited. He couldn't sleep, so he hurried to Chongxu Temple early.

When Zhao Rong arrived at the market at the foot of Mount Taibai, it was around 1:15 am, and it was still early for the Taoist to ring the bell to get up. Following his memory of yesterday, he walked through the houses and came to an ordinary courtyard in the northeast corner of the market. The surrounding houses were where the Taoist children of Chongxu Temple lived.

Zhao Rong followed the four little Taoist boys on duty at the Lingguan Temple when he went down the mountain yesterday evening and found out where they lived.

It was late at night and everyone was asleep, but Zhao Rong saw that there was a light on in one of the rooms in the courtyard. He raised his eyebrows, tiptoed to the window, poked a hole in the paper window with his index finger, and looked inside. He was shocked to see two children in the room, sitting at the head of the bed with their bare chests, lighting an oil lamp and reading with their heads down.

It was the fat Taoist boy who was on duty in the Lingguan Temple during the day and his round-faced companion beside him.

Zhao Rong observed for a while and found that their expressions were strange. Sometimes they were grinning, sometimes they were frowning, sometimes they were anxious, and sometimes they were staring and gasping for breath.

About a quarter of an hour later, the two of them suddenly let out a long sigh, looked relieved, tidied themselves up, blew out the lights and went to sleep.

In the darkness, the two were silent for a while, and suddenly one of them spoke up, "Alas, there are too few. How come we have finished reading it all... Nanqing, in the future I want to wear a green robe and wield a sword, ride a donkey, and travel the world! Be a hero who takes pleasure in taking revenge..."

"Nan Xiao, you're so fat, the little donkey won't be able to handle it..."

No wonder he was sleepy during the day. Zhao Rong couldn't help but smile. It turned out that he was a passionate young man who stayed up late to secretly read martial arts novels... I thought he was doing something else at night. Well, my two young men, I'm sorry.

Zhao Rong went to the houses of the other two Taoist boys on duty and observed them quietly for a while. Seeing that they were breathing deeply and were sleeping, Zhao Rong frowned slightly.

"Gui, do you know how heavy the Thunder Purple Gold Furnace is?"

"The weight of the Thunder Purple Gold Furnace will change according to its expansion and contraction size. As it is less than ten feet tall and wide now, it is roughly ten pounds."

Zhao Rong remembered that when he first saw it, it was held in the hands of the fat Taoist boy from Nan Xiao. It must not be too heavy, and with his physique at the Gold and Stone Stage of the Ascension Realm, he should be able to lift it with ease.

Zhao Rong nodded silently. He looked around in the darkness and followed his memory to the house where the servants lived. He asked curiously, "Can the Thunder Purple Gold Furnace also expand and contract at will?"

"Nonsense, otherwise, with its current small size, you're going to make pills? I guess it can't even hold the ingredients."

Gui said again: "This is not the normal size of the Thunder Purple Gold Furnace. Logically, it should not be this size, because if it is used to make pills, then it should be big enough to at least fit you in it. And if it is used to store things, then it should be at least big enough to fit in your fist. This size that is neither too big nor too small is really strange."

Zhao Rong's expression changed. "After I get close to it, can you take it in?"

Gui thought for a moment, "I know what you are thinking, but I can't do it at the moment. However, if you can touch it and maintain it for half a quarter of an hour, I can borrow your soul power to temporarily gain control of it and help you shrink it within a fist."

The corner of Zhao Rong's mouth twitched. Your help is the same as no help. If I can touch it for half a minute, what's the difference between that and getting it? At most, I'm on the way to get it and let you put it away, which makes it a little easier for me to escape. It's just icing on the cake.

Zhao Rong sighed and could only rely on himself.

At one o'clock in the morning, the bell of the Taoist temple rang to signal the end of silence, and the market at the foot of the mountain gradually became lively.

Today is the fourth day that Zhao Rong has been copying scriptures in the Lingguan Temple, and there are still five days before the Confucian-Taoist debate.

Zhao Rong doesn't have much time left.

The Tingni Purple Gold Furnace must be obtained!